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Verizon is expanding the way developers can access its network APIs
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Vonage was just the first of the aggregators and hyperscalers it intends to work with
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Verizon appears to be slightly ahead of competitors in the network APIs game
Verizon is speeding ahead with its 5G APIs program just before Mobile World Congress (MWC).
The operator said this week that its 5G network APIs will be made available globally to developers through “a variety of API aggregators, hyperscalers and...Verizon’s own API portal.” Verizon said it has already signed on its first API aggregator — Ericsson’s Vonage — and will use that vendor’s API platform as a way to connect developers to Verizon’s 5G network.
“Vonage was the first aggregator we announced,” a Verizon spokeswoman told Silverlinings. “And we have some other announcements we'll be making in the near future to fill in some of the other hyperscalers we'll be working with,” she said without naming any names.
“I would expect at least AWS given the collaborations they have had with Verizon with AWS Wavelength,” neXt Curve analyst Leonard Lee told us.
Verizon said that it is planning to make APIs available to developers via hyperscalers, aggregators and its own portal to get the interfaces as widely available as possible. “The goal is to make it very easy for developers to access the network services we can provide, so we're casting a wide net,”
Other U.S. operators' API stories
Verizon isn’t the only U.S. operator going after 5G APIs even if it appears to be the most aggressive proponent of the interfaces right now. In September, AT&T said that the next step in its 5G open API plans “will be to embed capabilities that will be exposed by and made accessible through network APIs to businesses and developers.” The operator hasn’t yet said when that step will happen.
T-Mobile has so far used 5G APIs to expose low latency video communications interfaces to developers working on critical video apps on its 5G standalone network. It hasn’t said much about 5G APIs otherwise.
New 5G entrant Dish, meanwhile, said it would expose its network APIs to developers back in November 2022. The company signed on to Nokia’s API platform in September 2023 but hasn’t said much about its network APIs since the initial launch in 2022.
No doubt, however, we’ll be surrounded by operators looking to shout their API story from the rooftops at Mobile World Congress.
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